by Amy Ewing
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Violet Lasting is a girl who lives in the Marsh, the poorest circle in the Lone City. She is a surrogate sold to the highest royal bidder to bare her child after which she enters the richest circle, the Jewel and has to maneuver her way through politics, love, and friendship.
When I first read this book, I read it in a day and absolutely loved it! I still love this book because like You Are Mine this book deals with the issue of buying and selling women. However, this book also introduces the theme of surrogacy.
Amy Ewing cleverly introduces the topic of buying and selling girls to be used as surrogates. Along with that, she introduces an extra layer by having the girls bought by royal women.
I loved all of the plot twists in the book! I especially enjoyed the cliff-hanger at the end.
However, I felt that the romance between Violet and Ash was just too instantaneous for my liking. I didn’t mind the romance itself, but I thought it was forced at times and it could have been written better. I also thought the romance made Violet less independent in a way which contradicted her character throughout the book.
Overall, The Jewel brought new concepts to the table and I highly recommend it.

A Kiss in the Dark was a beautiful book. It starts off with a massive twist in the storyline and from then on you are on the edge of your seat. As of halfway through, the narrator changes from Alex to Kate. From then on I found it hard to decide who’s side to be on because both of the characters make horrific decisions. The story is very deep because it includes the characters having to find themselves in a place that they don’t know who they are. It is one of those books where you wish you could rip the characters out of the book, just to yell at them and tell them what to do and how badly they are handling the situation. This is the third Cat Clarke book that I have read and at the moment it is my favourite.

The Manifesto on How to be Interesting was in no way what I expected. It starts off very jolly and funny, but as you get near the end, you get to see the depth within it. Somehow, Holly Bourne has managed to write a funny, smart book, which is also very sad and deep.
Bree, the main character is a handful. She is funny and has a great sense of humour, but she has a tough life and a secret that makes her seem darker (and more interesting). As the book goes on she makes terrible decisions, which makes you want to rip her out and yell at her (I was so annoyed that I had to put the book down and put my head in my hands in annoyance), but she also understands so much more than not many seventeen year olds understand. She knows what she wants to do with her life and sacrifices everything to make that happen.
This books is amazing and changes your view on life and people themselves.